We are excited to announce the 2017 Cascadia Residency Exhibition Schedule. Over the course of the past year, our resident artists have collaborated with congregations all over the Seattle region. This collaboration culminated in our 2-week residency at the Grunewald Guild this May.
Curious about how the arts can intersect with and support local congregations? We invite you to experience a bit of our creative community by attending our artist events in the summer and fall of 2017.
Allyson Darakjian:
Contours: Blind and Otherwise
Opening June 2nd, 7-9pm
Grace Church Art Gallery
400 E. Pine Street, Suite 215
Seattle, WA 98122
“I created a body of work inspired by the artistic process of continuous line blind contour drawing. This process requires the artist to look only at a single object, or scene, and attempt to draw the object without looking at the paper or taking the pen, pencil, or paintbrush, off the page. The two-dimensional work reflects the playfulness and emotionality of lines and layering. The layers and nuance of art-making in community is exemplified in the repetitive and continuous line, always moving and never predictable but seeking to find truth in it’s shape.
Connecting the art of blind contour drawings to my experience as an artist-in-residence at Grace Church was a process that happened post-creating the work. My experience as the artist-in-residence was a layered experience that helped me trace the contours of my own gifts as an artist and a pastor in my church community. It encouraged me to seek to help others draw out their own creative contours in the lives through things like leading an Artist’s Way group and seeking to draw connecting lines between the creative life and the practiced spiritual life in my church community.”
Becky Aitken:
Letters to Momma
Opening July 2nd, 6-8pm
John Knox Presbyterian Church
109 SW Normandy Road
Normandy Park, WA 98166
“As an illustrator I employ a variety of techniques and visual styles to tell each unique story in the best way possible. The past 9 months I struggled to choose the best idea and style to pursue for this residency. Then, in April, my mother had a large stroke and our lives turned upside down. As happens with upheaval, a few things became clear. I spent my two weeks writing letters and making art to send to my mother during her recovery period. My goal was to create art that would make my mom smile, bring her joy, celebrate our memories, and wonder at God’s beauty in the ordinary, just like she taught me. I wrote the letters like the many she wrote me over my life: on found paper, with mistakes visibly crossed out, about my ordinary experiences throughout the day, and full of conversational jumps. By naming my loving and accepting mother as my intended audience, I found a unique freedom to explore artistically in the pursuit of sharing joy.”
Becky was supported in this Residency by John Knox Presbyterian Church, with the creative leadership of Worship Pastor, Rachel Morris.
John Sanders Van Deusen:
Every Power Wide Awake
Worship album available in
limited release this fall.
Pop album release June 9th:
Lincoln Theatre (get tickets)
712 S. First Street
Mt. Vernon, WA 98273
“I read Lord of the Rings in the garden and ate delicious food. I met a snake. I wrote songs and recorded them. I really like the songs I wrote and recorded. I received an oil change from a nice old man. Then, I returned home and cried a little, missing my friends.”
John was supported in this Residency by Bethany Community Church, with the insightful leadership of Maggie Braun.
Matthew Whitney:
Love Where You Live
Opening of collaborative exhibition coming this fall.
Westminster Chapel of Bellevue
13646 NE 24th St
Bellevue, WA 98005
Matthew Whitney is creating a collaborative series of artworks, representative of the everyday paths and places of meaning contributed by the people who worship there. These drawings will seek to embody and represent the body of Christ, as it manifests through the lives and relationships of each person attending the church. Each line has a name; each line has a story; and each line illuminates their presence and proximity in the community, and that the Holy Spirit sustains them and their work, and weaves them together.
This project seeks to reveal how God sees this collective identity of the church – dispersed amongst their neighbors, coworkers, and families – in different neighborhoods, businesses, academic institutions – in the kaleidoscope of identities that represent the people of Westminster Chapel, which include:
- Collective identity (being the body of Christ, dispersed)
- Transitional identity (in school, job training, language training)
- Geographic identity (the places that people live, work, volunteer, study)
- Cultural identity
- Racial identity
- Economic identity
- Spiritual identity
Matt was supported in this Residency by Westminster Chapel, with the terrific leadership of Worship Pastor, Arlene Finley.
Shannon Sigler:
Family Industry
Exhibition coming this fall.
“With mixed media – including charcoal, photographs, textiles, and epoxy resin – this exhibition seeks to explore how our family relationships can change over time. The organic nature of elements like charcoal interact in interesting ways with industrial materials like the high-gloss epoxy, exploring how family roles and rhythms can be simultaneously authentic and artificial; natural and mechanical. Individual works explore more specific themes such as motherhood, grief, co-parenting, illness, and the mundane.”
As the director of the residency, Shannon was not partnered with a specific church, but worked alongside our resident artists as both guide and fellow creator.
Want to know more about how to be involved in the Cascadia Residency? Go here.